Rock Hill, S.C. – Winthrop head softball coach Kendall Fuller has announced a 53-game schedule for the 2024 season that includes 21 home games as well as hosting the Big South Conference Tournament.
The schedule consists of 29 opponents, with LeMoyne making a jump to the NCAA D1 level and Wofford College in its first season with a softball program. Of the 26 teams that played D1 softball last season, 10 of them finishes with a winning record. Three of them finished with 40 or more wins, seven of them with 30 or more and 11 with 25 or more wins.
There are five 2024 opponents that made the NCAA Regionals last season (Clemson, South Carolina, UNC Greensboro, Campbell and Harvard). In 2023 the Eagles faced eight teams that qualified for the NCAA Regionals and held a record of 6-5 against those teams.
Winthrop finished the 2023 season with a 26-24 record and returns 13 players, including nine returning starters highlighted by All-Big South First Team pitchers
Reese Basinger.
The Eagles open up their season at home Feb. 10-11 with two games each against North Carolina A&T and North Carolina. Then a midweek trip to UNC Greensboro to take on the defending Southern Conference Champions. Following that the Eagles will compete in four tournaments with a couple of midweek contests sprinkled in before getting into Big South Conference play mid-March.
The open to conference play for the Eagles will be a three-game road series at Presbyterian College (Mar. 15-16). The Eagles will also travel to Radford (Mar. 29-30), and Longwood (Apr. 12-13) during league play.
The Big South home opening series is Mar. 23-24 against Gardner-Webb. Winthrop will also host Charleston Southern (Apr. 19-20) and USC Upstate (May 4-5) during conference play.
SPOTLIGHT MATCHUPS
Feb. 10 vs. North Carolina, 4 p.m.
Feb. 11 vs. North Carolina, 12:30 p.m.
May 1 at North Carolina, 6 p.m.
Winthrop will face North Carolina three times this season. The Tar Heels make their first trip to Terry Field since Feb. 28, 2018. In that meeting the Tar Heels led 5-4 after three innings and scored five runs over the 5
th and 6
th innings to earn a 10-4 victory. Winthrop earned a win at North Carolina on Apr. 19, 2017. Winthrop defeated North Carolina in the 2007 NCAA Regional to reach the regional final.
Feb. 14 at UNC Greensboro, 1 p.m. (doubleheader)
This will be an early road test as Winthrop travels to Greensboro, N.C. to take on the 2023 Southern Conference Champions, who were 37-22 last season. The last time these two teams met was May 1, 2019 in Greensboro as the Eagles scored four runs in the top of the 7
th inning to win 6-3. UNCG is also a former Big South member for five years during the 1990s.
Feb. 23-25 at Camel Stampede (host: Campbell)
The Eagles will face the 2023 Big South Conference Champion Campbell Camels twice. Campbell departed the Big South Conference beginning in the fall of 2023 and is now in the Colonial Athletic Association.
Mar. 23-24 vs. Gardner-Webb
This is the Big South Conference home opener for the Eagles, who will face the Runnin' Bulldogs in a doubleheader on Saturday, Mar. 23 and a single-game on Sunday, Mar. 24.
Apr. 3 at South Carolina, 6 p.m.
Eagles travel to Columbia, S.C. for the 11
th straight season in hopes of knocking off South Carolina, which went 40-12 in 2023 and appeared in an NCAA Regional. Winthrop will look for its first win against the Gamecocks since a 5-2 win in Columbia,
Apr. 16 at Clemson, 6 p.m.
Eagles travel to Clemson, S.C. for the 4
th straight season to take on a Tigers team that appeared in an NCAA Regional and an NCAA Super Regional before finishing the year 49-12.
May 9-11 Big South Conference Tournament (Rock Hill, S.C.)
Winthrop will host the Big South Conference Tournament May 9-11 on Terry Field. It's the first time since 2016 the Eagles have hosted the conference championship. This will be the 15
th time the Eagles have hosted the Big South Championship and the 8
th time on Terry Field. Eagles are 23-21 all-time when hosting the conference tourney, won the conference title twice and reached the title game five times.
